2 Ritual Slayings Follow Killing of 5
New Murders in Silver Lake; Fresh Tate Clue
August 11, 1969
Los Angeles Times
By Dial Torgerson and Ted Thackrey, Jr.
Times staff writers
A Silver Lake couple was found slain Sunday night under bizarre circumstances
that police said may connect the crime with the murder of actress Sharon Tate
and four others in Benedict Canyon.
Detectives said the man's head was covered with a white hood, his chest
pierced by a meat carving fork which had evidently been used to cut the word
"War" and "XXX" into the late flesh. His body was lying on the living room
floor.
The women's body, clad in pajamas, was found in the bedroom of the isolated
single-story house at 33 06 Waverly Drive, her back ripped to pieces by what
police said may have been a knife or whip. They were not immediately identified.
"Death To Pigs”
The words "death to pigs" had been smeared on the door of the refrigerator,
apparently by the heel of the slayer's hand, dipped in his victims’ blood.
The couple's teen-age children, returning home shortly after the crime was
discovered at 10:30 PM immediately became hysterical and could give police no
clear account of events earlier in the evening.
The hood, the bloody inscription-written in the same manner as the word "pig"
on the front door of Miss Tate's rented home in Benedict Canyon-and the nature
of their wounds all indicated the connection with the earlier crime, police
said.
Miss Tate and her four companions were slain late Friday night or Saturday
morning.
The second suspect in that case is still believed at large.
The second suspect is a man whose name was mentioned by William E. Garretson,
a nineteen-year-old caretaker at the estate who was taken into custody shortly
after the murders were discovered.
Takes Lie Detector Test
Garretson underwent an hour-long lie detector test at central police
headquarters Sunday afternoon. He was then returned to his cell, and Sergeant
Jesse Buckles explained homicide detectives were "not entirely satisfied" with
his answers to their questions.
Earlier, officers had indicated Garretson might be released after testing on
the polygraph. Buckles said Garretson may still be released but not until
further investigation is completed, probably sometime today.
Lieutenant Detective Robert Helder told a news conference that efforts to
trace the killer-or killers were centered on acquaintances of the short, slim
caretaker.
But Garretson's attorney, Barry Tarlow, asserted that the killer was more
likely someone connected with the murder victims themselves.
"There was a party at the house the night of the killings," Tarlow said.
"From the investigation made by my office, our best guess is that whoever did it
was involved in a personal way with these people who were killed."
What police had originally considered the best clue in the case evaporated
late Sunday when Miss Tate's Red Ferrari was found in a Hollywood Service
garage, where it had been taken for repairs last week. The car had been reported
missing, and was the subject of an all-points bulletin.
Coroner Thomas T. Nuguchi told newsmen the results of autopsies, which
determine these causes of death for the five victims:
Miss Tate, 26, was found in the living room linked by rope to the body of
hair stylist Jay Sebring, was killed by multiple stab wounds of the chest and
back.
Sebring, 35, died from stab wounds in the body. The rope linking his neck
with that of Miss Tate did not contribute to the cause of death.
Abigail Folger, 26, heiress of the Folger coffee family, died from stab
wounds in the chest.
Voyteck Frykowski, 37, a Polish screen producer and writer, died of stab
wounds "of the body and extremities" and a gunshot wound in the back.
Steven parent, eighteen, and El Monte youths who was a friend of Garretson,
was killed by multiple gunshot wound to the chest.
Helder and Noguchi declined to release many details of the crime known to
authorities- things Helder said would be known only to the killer or killers.
They wouldn't say how many times the victims were stabbed, with whatever
weapon they were shot, or elaborate on physical details of the scene of the
murders.
The five were killed at the $200,000 estate rented by Miss Tate and her
husband, film director Roman Polanski, at the end of Cielo Drive in the Hills of
Benedict Canyon.
The detective and the coroner did, however, provide some previously
unreleased details of the crime:
Miss Tate was eight months pregnant with a baby boy.
The telephone line into the home were cut between 10:00 PM, when the phone
into the estate was last used, and 5:30 AM, When Garretson attempted to place a
call out and found the lines dead. The murders presumably occurred within that
period, Helder said.
The word "Pig” was written in blood, with letters about a foot tall, on the
front door. Police said the letters were made with the side of a fist and had
been smeared with the victim’s blood.
"There's no solid information that will limit us to a single suspect," said
Helder. "It could’ve been one man, it could’ve been two, it could have been
three."
"We have to assume there was an attempt to escape, when we find the bodies
the way we did," said Helder.
Miss Tate and Sebring were killed in the house. But the other three victims
were found in what could have been positions of flight: Frykowski shot in the
back on the lawn, Miss Folger falling 100 ft. farther away on the grass, Parent
shot as he sat at the wheel of his car in the estate driveway.
Garretson's attorney said that Parent was alive at 11:45 PM Friday-but
wouldn't comment further on the fact. He said Garretson was asleep in the
guesthouse at the rear the property and slept through the murders.
Others said that one of the victims of the murder was sexually molested.
There was no evidence of alcoholic beverages having been consumed, and chemical
tests to determine if drugs had been used by any of the victims are still under
way, he said.
The fact that the telephone wires were cut indicated that the murders were
apparently premeditated, Helder said. He said the victims were "caught unawares"
by the killers.
"It was a weird homicide," he said, "... But I don't think we have a maniac
running around."
"I can’t agree with that." Said Attorney Tarlow later. "I think there is a
maniac running around. And if I were living in the area, I'd be concerned."
Friends said Frykowski, a friend of Miss Folger, also had been staying at the
Tate home, situated at the end of a winding, hilly street.
Garretson can be held for 48 hours, starting Monday morning, before charges
have to be filed-or he has to be released. The 48-hour limit does not apply over
the weekend.
Lieutenant Helder said attempts to talk to Polanski would be arranged by the
director’s attorney. "I doubt if he'll be able to talk to us right away," Helder
said.
The policeman’s prediction was confirmed when Polanski arrived Sunday
afternoon at International Airport aboard a jetliner from London, and was
immediately taken to an unknown location.
